There might now have to be an apology that follows the apology for the apology. There might now have to be an acknowledgement from the League Managers Association that they were misguided in trying to defend Malky Mackay against accusations of racism, sexism and homophobia.

As a member of their organisation, the disgraced former Cardiff City manager deserved their support. But not blind support. And not the kind of backing that has been offered this week, when they tried to defend the indefensible and succeeded not only in damaging Mackay further but embarrassing every manager they represent.

Beyond daring to dismiss the exchange with Iain Moody that was revealed by the Daily Mail earlier this week as ‘friendly banter’, they also tried to suggest that most people used the kind of language used in the sordid text and email exchanges between Mackay and Moody. They also argued - as if it were not already enough - that Mackay was responsible for just two racist text messages.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Harry Redknapp: Malky Mackay has made a big mistake

Scandal: Malky Mackay is being investigated by The FA after it emerged he exchanged racist text messages with Iain Moody when the pair worked at Cardiff City

Under investigation: Moody (left) and Mackay will be scrutinised by the FA after the governing body received evidence from Cardiff City's lawyers

Revelation: Sportsmail broke the story of Mackay and Moody's text message exchanges

THE DAMNING MESSAGES

'Fkn chinkys. Fk it. There's enough dogs in Cardiff for us all to go around.'

On the arrival of South Korean international Kim Bo-Kyung

'Go on, fat Phil. Nothing like a Jew that sees money slipping through his fingers'

On football agent Phil Smith

'He's a snake, a gay snake. Not to be trusted'

On an official of another club

'Not many white faces amongst that lot but worth considering.'

On a list of potential signings

'I hope she's looking after your needs. I bet you'd love a bounce on her falsies.'

On a player's female agent

A picture entitled Black Monopoly (where every square was a "Go to Jail" square)

Sent to members of Cardiff's staff

Now it is alleged there were others.

Now the Daily Mail has been told that ‘chink’ was a word Mackay would use in describing his Malaysian employers, as well as a Korean player he was signing.

Now it is suggested he had no regard for a gay football supporter who felt threatened by homophobic chanting. On the contrary, there is evidence to suggest Mackay found the whole thing rather amusing and shared that amusement with Moody, who was forced to resign as sporting director of Crystal Palace after the publication of our story.

Now we know Mackay does not appear to have an awful lot of respect for female colleagues either.

It is not entirely clear if the LMA knew all this already, but what we do know is this: we know that when Mackay and Moody were presented with all the findings of Cardiff’s £750,000 investigation into eight transfers in the summer of 2013, all this information was contained in the dossier. Just as we know both men sought the advice of legal representatives provided by the LMA.

As Cardiff said in their strongly worded statement on Friday when they called for the resignation of the LMA chief executive, Richard Bevan, the LMA were informed of the allegations once Moody’s home had been raided by investigators from the Mishcon de Reya law firm in March.

Resignation: Cardiff said that Richard Bevan's position is now untenable and the LMA boss should resign

Front-runner: Mackay was expected to be given the vacant manager's role at Crystal Palace

Out: But after hearing of the investigation Steve Parish (right, with Moody) and Crystal Palace pulled the plug

Slur: Mackay is alleged to have bad-mouthed incoming South Korean international Kim Bo-Kyung (left)

Messages: Mackay exchanged texts of a racist, sexist and homophobic nature with his colleague Moody

MEN AT THE CENTRE OF SCANDAL

IAIN MOODY:As a graduate in French and Italian, Moody initially found work as a translator for the Italy side during Euro 96, before taking a staff writer’s position at Football365.com.

In 2001, he made the move to Athole Still International, a London-based sports management franchise, then leaving to become Watford’s press officer four years later.

It was at Vicarage Road that Moody first linked up with Malky Mackay, forming a close professional relationship that saw him soon promoted to football operations manager.

When Mackay left for Cardiff in 2011, Moody followed, this time as head of recruitment. Cardiff reached the League Cup final in 2012 and were promoted to the Premier League a year later, but amid a protracted bust-up between Mackay and the club’s controversial owner, Vincent Tan, Moody was dismissed in October 2013. He was replaced by 23-year-old Kazakh Alisher Apsalyamov, who was at the club on work experience and a friend of Tan’s son.

Crystal Palace were quick to appoint Moody as their sporting director, with a remit to improve their club infrastructure and to address weaknesses in player recruitment.

‘The LMA were aware of the allegations from the morning of the search order, and their lawyers acted for Mr Mackay and Mr Moody throughout the legal process,’ said Cardiff’s statement.

So why the aggressive response? Why the cries of foul play and complaints of an injustice? Why the ill-conceived apology on Thursday night that served only to highlight the urgent need for education in the very highest echelons of English football?

Driven by what appears to be anger towards Vincent Tan and blind loyalty towards Mackay, Richard Bevan and the LMA seem to have lost sight of what is right and wrong this week, with hugely damaging consequences.

They have raged against what they considered unfair treatment of their members, even though Cardiff’s investigators actually urged Mackay and Moody to self-report the racist, sexist and homophobic text messages to the Football Association. When the two men failed to do so, Cardiff were left with no option but to report the alleged aggravated breach of FA rules themselves.

Seemingly outraged by the fact that Sportsmail then discovered that the evidence had been passed by those investigators to the FA, the LMA allowed their anger to draw their attention away from what really matters here: that one of their members, a highly promising 42-year-old manager, could engage in such offensive exchanges. He needed exposing and educating; not protecting.

What Mackay certainly didn’t need was the advice he has so far had. And he certainly should have been advised against dismissing his puerile text conversations as friendly banter. Any PR company worth its salt would have advised him to go straight to a mea culpa. An unqualified apology, and a determination to behave differently in future was what was required.

So, what does the LMA actually do?

The League Managers Association describes itself as the voice of football management.

Effectively, it is the trade union for England’s 92 League managers, offering legal advice to its members as well as media and PR training, healthcare and financial planning.

Businessman Richard Bevan is the chief executive with Howard Wilkinson, former Leeds boss, as chairman.

Chris Hughton is the only black member of its executive board. One of the LMA’s aims is ‘to encourage honourable practice, conduct and courtesy in all professional activity’.

MEN AT THE CENTRE OF SCANDAL

MALKY MACKAY:A powerful centre-back with Queen’s Park, Celtic, Norwich, West Ham and Watford — winning five Scotland caps — he began his managerial career at Championship club Watford in 2009, after Brendan Rodgers resigned. He spent two years at Vicarage Road, safeguarding them from relegation, before moving to Cardiff in 2011.

In his first season in charge of the Welsh club, Mackay, 42, guided them to their first ever League Cup final, which they lost to Liverpool on penalties and finished sixth in the Championship, though they missed out on promotion through the play-offs.

Still, 2012’s heartache proved to be short-lived, as Cardiff were promoted to the Premier League as champions the following year. Despite his successes, however, Mackay’s relationship with club owner Vincent Tan became increasingly strained.

The Malaysian businessman was reportedly dissatisfied with Mackay’s transfer dealings. Mackay was dismissed as Cardiff manager in December 2013.

This sorry episode - and how it has been handled - is hugely damaging for the English game. Not just the LMA. After issuing its remarkable apology for its apology on Friday morning, the LMA brought down its shutters, failing to respond to telephone calls and emails from Sportsmail. No-one, it seems, was prepared to put their head over the parapet and personally take responsibility for the pathetic ‘banter statement’ of Thursday evening.

Paul Mortimer, an ex- Crystal Palace player who now works as the professional players engagement manager for the anti-discrimination campaign Kick It Out, perhaps articulated the situation best on Friday.

‘I’m going to have to talk to the managers as well because it’s a waste of time talking to players if among the people above them these views are prevalent,’ he told me.

When Kick It Out hold workshops for 16 to 18-year-old footballers, the word ‘banter’ is central to the message they try to communicate. The fact that it is such a dangerous word; the fact that it needs to be eradicated in the context of any form of discrimination; the fact it can never be used as an excuse.

As one official at the FA also confirmed, the word ‘banter’ is central to the equality training every member of staff is given at Wembley.

And then along come the LMA, seemingly every inch the stereotypical middle-aged white men in suits, and set the game back decades. ‘Bumbling dinosaurs,’ was how a respected commentator described them.

FULL LMA STATEMENT: MALKY MACKAY

The LMA wish to clarify the position in relation to recent reports and speculation regarding matters alleged to have arisen during Malky Mackay’s time at Cardiff City FC.

In the course of a search by the Club in early 2014 of 10,000 private text messages sent to and from another member of staff during Mr Mackay’s employment at Cardiff, in relation to other matters, it emerged that Malky had, it seems, sent a couple of one line texts that were, with the benefit of hindsight, very regrettable and disrespectful of other cultures. These were two text messages sent in private at a time Malky felt under great pressure and when he was letting off steam to a friend during some friendly text message banter. That said, Malky believes he could and should have conducted himself better on these two isolated occasions. The precise details need to remain private for the time being until any FA process is complete.

The LMA does not condone in any way any potential breach of equal opportunities laws but would also point out that out of over 10,000 text messages and 70,000 documents produced over a long period of time it may not be a complete surprise that some inappropriate comments can sometimes be made by employees, like Malky, working under great pressure in highly charged situations. If Malky has caused any offence by these two isolated matters he would, however, wish to sincerely apologise.

Malky finds it strange that these matters were only raised with the FA and in the media now, 8 months after his employment ended and the day before he was reported as being offered the opportunity to become manager of Crystal Palace FC.

Malky is also very concerned about seriously inaccurate and misleading reports of his alleged involvement in these matters in the media. It has never been alleged that he wrote any homophobic or sexist messages and he has confirmed that he did not do so. Further, there are incorrect and damaging suggestions that he sent a whole host of offensive and unpleasant messages that are simply not true and which give a grossly distorted and unfair view of Malky’s involvement in this matter. Malky looks forward to matters being put straight in due course, following any investigation of this matter.

Malky cannot of course comment on the nature of any conduct or communications alleged to have been made by others.

Malky has said that he will be fully co-operating with any FA investigation and that he looks forward to putting the record straight thereafter.

Who wrote the statement?

The LMA wouldn’t tell us, insisting that they would make no further comment beyond the apology they issued on Friday. But Cardiff said what many must have been thinking when they claimed Bevan’s position had become untenable. Mortimer was certainly among those horrified by the LMA.

‘One thing I can assure you of is the fact that a victim of such discrimination, and there is always a victim because someone is being excluded, will not see it as banter,’ he said. ‘I back the LMA in supporting their member but you cannot condone that behaviour and all this shows is that everyone is in need of education.’

That education process should start at the LMA’s offices at St George’s Park near Burton-on-Trent. The organisation proudly boasts on its website that it will ‘carry out all its activity with expertise, professionalism and integrity’.

Sadly, this week has seen them come up well short of that standard.

THE SECOND LMA STATEMENT ON MALKY MACKAY

The LMA apologises for some of its wording, in its release yesterday, which was inappropriate and has been perceived to trivialise matters of a racist, sexist or homophobic nature. That was certainly not our intention.

It is beyond argument that any comments that are discriminatory, even used in private, are totally unacceptable. The LMA remains absolutely aware of our responsibility to the game and to promote and uphold the highest standards of behaviour.

The LMA will not be commenting further on the allegations relating to Malky Mackay whilst The FA conducts its investigation, other than to repeat that both the LMA and Malky will be cooperating fully.

We will continue to work with all of the game's stakeholders to address the important issues of respect and discriminatory behaviour in all its forms.